Print order dockets to place on meal trays when delivering food to residents. Each docket shows what the resident ordered, portion sizes, and any special instructions.
Before You Begin
- Your facility needs thermal printers configured
- You should understand how filters work (see Navigating and Filtering the Prep Report)
- Dockets are most useful when delivering meals to rooms or for sandwiches and salads which are plated in advance
Filter the Prep Report
Filters you apply in the prep report control which dockets print. You almost always want to filter before printing.
- Open the prep report by selecting Prep from the main menu.
Apply filters to narrow down the residents you want to print dockets for. For example:
- Filter by dining location to print only in-room orders for a particular wing
- Filter by meal to print only sandwich or salad orders
- Filter by texture to print only for residents on pureed diets
- To print for a specific resident, use the search box to search by name or room number.
Tip: Print dockets in batches by location. Filter to Dining Room A, print, then change the filter to Dining Room B, and so on. This keeps dockets organised by where you need to deliver them.
The Print Dialog
- Select Print Dockets at the top of the page.
- The dialog opens and shows how many dockets will print based on your filters. One docket prints per resident.
- (Optional) Use the From and To dropdowns to print a specific range of residents. By default, all filtered dockets print.
- If your facility has multiple thermal printers, select the correct one from the Printer dropdown.
- Select Print.
The dockets print one by one. A progress indicator shows the current docket.
Note: There is a short delay between each docket to avoid printer timeout issues. Dockets are ordered by dining location (dining rooms first, then in-room orders), sorted by room number within each location.
What's on a Docket
Each docket includes:
- Resident name and room number
- Dining location
- Date and service
- Food texture and drink thickness (highlighted when restrictive)
- All ordered items for the meal service, including serving sizes and special instructions
- Any special utensils required
- Allergies (highlighted when present), diets, medical conditions and tags
- Resident notes (if enabled on your printer configuration)
Warning: Thermal printer paper fades when exposed to heat. If you place dockets in a hotbox with meals, keep them there for as short a time as possible.
If Printing Fails
Common issues:
- Printer not connected - Check that the thermal printer is powered on and connected to the network
- Network timeout - The printer may be offline or the network connection is slow
- Out of paper - Check for empty or jammed paper
If problems persist, contact your administrator to check the printer configuration.